SQUEEEEE!!!

I just finished my first quilt! I feel like there should be trumpets. And champagne! So much excitement! Real blog post with much better pictures to come! I just couldn't wait to blog my finish! Exclamation mark!!!

Watch Me Grow Progress Update

I'm getting to the final stages of my Watch Me Grow chart that I started months and months ago.  Last night I basted my quilt sandwich. For the non-quilters out there, this means that I layered my backing, the batting and the top of the quilt, and used special curved safety pins to hold the layers together.  Here's what it looks like post-basting:

I also cut my binding tape. After some research, I decided to make cross-grain/straight-grain tape instead of bias tape.  This means that I cut selvedge to selvedge, instead of on the bias.  Apparently, bias tape is only required if one is going around curves, which I'm not.  The tape took surprisingly little time to prepare.  After cutting five strips, I sewed them together and ironed them in half. 

 I used a toilet paper roll to roll up the binding and felt mighty clever, let me tell you!

Since this is my first quilting project ever, I decided to test out my walking foot on a mini project before quilting my chart.  I made a pot holder.  The quilting went wonderfully, but the binding did not work out well so tonight I'm going to rip it out and redo it.  Hopefully I will be ready to start quilting my Grow Chart tomorrow.

Happy Sewing!

Now Two Times More Absorbant!

Oh! Hi there! Remember me? I'm still around and crafting up a storm.  Levi is significantly more active now, so my blogging time has been greatly reduced. When faced with the choice between blogging or sewing, sewing wins every time. As a result, I have a backlog of projects to share with you, starting with today's creations - double sided receiving blankets (or DSRBs because I'm lazy and don't want to type that out multiple times).

If your baby is a spewer, you need these! I wish I had thought of them eight months ago, when Levi was spitting up after every feed and I was going through upwards of ten receiving blankets a day. Alas, it wasn't until Sara told me how handy the blanket I made for her was, that I recognized their genius. Double the flannel, double the absorbancy! Also, double the cute, since you can use coordinating prints.

My newest nephew was born this morning and I am thrilled to pass along the knowledge that DSRBs are all kinds of amazing to my sister-in-law (and brother-in-law!).  I made three today and they are adorable.  Behold, my DSRBs:

DSRB's are super easy to make. Take two rectangular pieces of flannel and place them right sides facing together.  You can make your pieces any size you like. I like to make extra large blankets, to increase their usability, for example, they can be used as swaddling blankets, stroller blankets or play mats.  Next step: seam all four sides.  IMPORTANT!  Leave a six inch opening on one side for turning the blanket right side out.  I used pinking shears to trim my edges and clipped my corners before turning my blanket.  Then I used a chopstick to get my corners poking out nicely.  Press the edges so that they lay flat (this is particularly important if you choose to topstitch like I did). Top stitche about a quarter of an inch in all around.  This last step is optional, but I think adds a lovely detail.  And voila! You're done.